Abstract
Human fibroblast cell cultures inoculated with microsporidia-infected corneal scrapings from an AIDS patient were fixed in situ and examined by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The parasite grew prolifically and all developmental stages were observed. Meronts underwent binary fission and the daughter cells transformed into clongate, chain-like sporonts that eventually separated into sporoblasts. The formation of components of the mature spores is described. The parasite, a species ofEncephalitozoon, underwent development both in the cytoplasm and within a parasitophorous vacuole, distinguishing it from the morphologically similar speciesE. cuniculi andE. hellem, both of which have been described from lesions in the human eye and have been reported to develop exclusively within a parasitophorous vacuole.
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This project was funded by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Operating Grant 6965 (to S.S.D.)
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Desser, S.S., Hong, H. & Yang, Y.J. Ultrastructure of the development of a species ofEncephalitozoon cultured from the eye of an AIDS patient. Parasitol Res 78, 677–683 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00931520
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00931520